The Geneva Disarmament Platform – which aims at providing a neutral and dynamic forum of interaction in Geneva for all stakeholders in the field of disarmament –
launched a Disarmament Essay Competition, which is open to any students enrolled in fields other than the traditional ones of international relations / IHL. The objective of the contest is to try to bring fresh ideas to enhance global disarmament, to bring motivated people from various fields together, and to provide a good opportunity to network.

Up to 10 authors will be invited to participate in a two-day workshop in Geneva, and the best essays will be rewarded with some cash prizes. The deadline to submit an essay is 30 June 2018.

All information and requirements are available on their website: http://www.disarmament.ch/2018-essay-contest/

On 15 June, the President and Secretary General of Pugwash issued a short commentary on the recent summit between President Trump and Chairman Kim.

The historic first meeting between a sitting US President and North Korean Leader was an auspicious first step that provides a good foundation on which to build substantive agreements in the future. Although the summit itself did not produce any dramatic achievement it is nevertheless an important landmark in the effort to rid the world of nuclear weapons and prevent conflict in North East Asia. The joint statement issued following the meeting was short on commitments; but mutual confidence building at this time can provide a basis for a process that reduces fear and suspicion and reverse the spiral of confrontation. However, we caution that past agreements between the US and DPRK have contained similar vague language and ambiguous commitments, and have consequently failed to be respected. We call upon the US and DPRK, as well as other states of the international community who can support these efforts, to engage in a sustained and meaningful diplomatic process that will conclude an agreement on a denuclearized Korean Peninsula and further efforts to build confidence. This would provide a much-needed success on the road to realize the common aspiration of a world free of nuclear weapons and all other weapons of mass destruction.

On May 16 2018, Pugwash Netherlands joined a round-table event in The Hague with a delegation from the Korean National Peace Committee (KNPC). The meeting, hosted by the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict, (GPPAC), took place at the Peace Palace. Since 2015, GPPAC has been facilitating the Ulaanbaatar Process, a track II dialogue initiative in the Korean peninsula. In the framework of this process, a delegation from the KNPC, a North Korean organization, visited The Hague, the Netherlands.

The aim of the meeting was to offer KNPC representatives the opportunity to present their work to a select group of The Hague-based practitioners and experts as well as to engage in mutual exchange and learning around peace building and other current developments on the Korean Peninsula. Representatives of international organizations and academia engaged in a lively discussion on the importance of the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the inter-Korean peace process.

Given the tensions between NATO members and Russia in recent times, it is important to rethink the role of nuclear weapons in NATO’s defense policy. A new report by the Nuclear Threat Initiative urges NATO leaders to reassess the desirability of forward-deployed tactical nuclear weapons in Europe.

Two contributions written by members of Pugwash Netherlands provide further context and proposals in order to denuclearize the European continent.

The first paper (below) produced by Pugwash Netherlands’ Working Group on ‘Nuclear Weapons and Nuclear Weapons Free Zones’ (main author: Laurens Hogebrink) questions the wisdom of maintaining a policy of reciprocity concerning the drawback of forward-deployed tactical nuclear weapons in Europe.

The second paper (authored by Biejan Poor Toulabi) argues that the NATO will only benefit if the alliance were to lessen its reliance on nuclear weapons and, particularly, unilaterally remove forward-deployed tactical nuclear weapons in Europe.

Pugwash Nederland has a new chair. This was decided on April 5 2018 at the general meeting in Utrecht. Interim chair prof. dr. ir. Georg Frerks is succeeded by Marc Vogelaar. Marc Vogelaar served as ambassador for the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He is certainly not unknown within the Pugwash organization, as he already held a board position a few years ago as general board member.

In addition, Rens de Man has resigned from his duties as general board member. Biejan Poor Toulabi and Michiel Hoogeveen were appointed as treasurer and secretary, respectively. They both already served interim during the chairmanship of Georg Frerks.

Pugwash Nederland expresses the sincere appreciation to Georg Frerks and Rens de Man for their time and effort.

On February 2, 2018, the Pentagon released the new Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), stating that it rests “on a bedrock truth: nuclear weapons have and will continue to play a critical role in deterring nuclear attack and in preventing large-scale conventional warfare between nuclear-armed states for the foreseeable future.”[1] The global landscape is already filled with simmering nuclear tensions, as well as other serious issues of conflict. Stressing the role of nuclear weapons is not merely unhelpful but is likely to increase these tensions.Continue reading →

From 2 to 12 May 2017 the Netherlands will chair the Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) for the 2020 Review Conference of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). This will not be an easy task, considering the failure to reach consensus among the NPT member states during the 2015 Review Conference. Moreover, polarisation among the NPT member states may be even more increased by the current nuclear weapons developments in the United States, Russia and North Korea and the Nuclear Ban Treaty negotiations at the United Nations in which the nuclear weapons states do not participate. What are the perspectives for nuclear arms control in these circumstances, and for the 2017 PrepCom in particular? These issues will be discussed during the seminar “Challenges in Nuclear Arms Control: The Non-Proliferation Treaty at Risk?”.